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Richard P. Chenard

NAME
Richard Paul Chenard
NICKNAME
Dick
SERVICE NUMBER
377571
UNIT
VMD-154
Radioman
HOME OF RECORD
73 Mountain Road, Biddeford, ME
NEXT OF KIN
Mother, Mrs. Annie Chenard
DATE OF BIRTH
August 28, 1922
ENTERED SERVICE
March 17, 1942
DATE OF LOSS
February 7, 1943
REGION
Vanuatu (New Hebrides)
CAMPAIGN / AREA
Espiritu Santo
CASUALTY TYPE
Killed In Action
CIRCUMSTANCES OF LOSS
Corporal Richard P. Chenard was an aviation radioman assigned to VMD-154, a Marine reconnaissance squadron based in the New Hebrides Islands.

Just after 0400 hours on 7 February 1943, Chenard’s plane – PB4Y-1 BuNo 31958 – took off from Espiritu Santo for the first leg of a planned photographic mission to Truk. The aircraft barely cleared the coastline before it plunged into the sea 600 yards offshore of the airstrip, sinking into 94 fathoms of water.

The entire crew was killed in the incident. None of their remains could be recovered.

INDIVIDUAL DECORATIONS
Purple Heart
LAST KNOWN RANK
Corporal
STATUS OF REMAINS
Not recovered
MEMORIALS
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific

Biography:
Coming soon. Contact the webmaster for more information about this Marine.


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